First let me preface that I was very impressed with Dr. Ross' research into the subject which is quite evident as the reader moves through the chapters.

The style of the book, however, is not very engaging. It seems as though there was an attempt by Dr. Ross to write to the layman but failed to do so due to her, I am guessing, expertise and deep knowledge of the subject, which can serve to make her falsely believe that some facts about the subject are commonplace and need no clarification.

Although I have to confess that I only read little more than half the book, so far. This is so because I became exceedingly frustrated with its style and I had to put it down, for now.

To corroborate my earlier claim of a failed layman style attempt, I found the deluge of names of locations without any accompanying reference to their modern label rather dizzying, with one half baked exception, Ireland. Ireland is well drawn and labeled in a map. I say half baked because I found I was constantly referring back to the page where the map was to spot a location name that I just read, which can be rather distracting, at least until I get used to the ancient names which did not happen yet, and for that, I can only blame myself. Maps of other locations are also supplied but they are not very clear because they only show a partial (zoomed in) view. It is unclear as to where in the British Isles these views are. I say unclear because the views and the various locations inside them are labeled according to their ancient Celtic names, which is fine, but they have no accompanying labels of any of their modern names (or, at least, one per view) to give us a point of reference. Although I have to add that the book is not unique in this; I found many other history books do the same with geographical references.

I also found at least one logic flaw in which the author seems to have made while deducing some facts; although, to be honest, I refuse to think that Dr. Ross could have made such an error, I just think it was simply badly explained in the book. I also say at least one logic flaw because I found others; but I have to go back and re-read them at least 20 times each before I can safely render them to be so. I would quote the paragraph from the book to prove my claim of the one logic flaw but I am not sure I can do so without the author's permission.

A couple of the several other issues that I came across are rather minor but worth mentioning. At least once, so far, I found that in retelling a legend, a character was referenced without being introduced first...not even later in the story. This may be an example of the author's thinking that some historic facts (legend characters, in this case) are commonplace, but I am not sure as to whether this is so, or just a simple absent-minded mistake.

Another minor issue is the lack of phonetic pronunciation to Celtic names. This need not be an elaborate undertaking. A simple phonetic form accompanying name introductions only would suffice.

For my own benefit, I will finish the book, at some later date; I just wish I picked up another that is written a little more clearly than this one.